Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the recipients of funding through the New Farmers Grant Fund, which will provide more than $610,000 in grant money in its first round to support new and early-stage agricultural businesses across the state.
“With this investment, we are creating opportunities for early-stage farmers that will increase future productivity on all farms and create long-term agricultural growth across New York state,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the recipients.
The fund, enacted in the 2014-15 budget, will be used to assist early-stage farmers and encourage them to consider farming as a career, the state said. The money will be used for the expansion of production, construction of farm buildings, purchase of equipment and seed, or upgrades to increase efficiency.
Across the state, 19 farms will receive funds, including four farms in the Hudson Valley.
In Dutchess County, $16,332 went to Alewife Farm, a 40-acre organic and no-till produce farm in Clinton Corners. The farm was founded and is run by Tyler Dennis, a 2011 college graduate with a degree in film studies who turned to farming after volunteer experiences on farms in Tarrytown and abroad.
Also in Dutchess, Yellow Bell Farm in Elizaville ”“ a drug-, additive- and cage-free poultry farm owned by a young third-generation poultry farmer, Katie Bogdanffy ”“ received $50,000 in grant funds.
East Chatham”™s Raven & Boar also received $50,000 (the largest amount of funding any of the 19 farms received). The farm has been raising heritage breed pigs since 2008.
Ironwood Farm in Ghent, a women-led organic fruit and vegetable farm, has been operating since 2014 and received $17,748.
According to the announcement, Cuomo and the Legislature committed an additional $1 million in the 2015-16 state budget to support a second round of the program.
To highlight agriculture’s importance, the state cited a 2014 study published by professor Todd Schmit of Cornell University. The study said that when agriculture is incorporated with agricultural production, support services and manufacturing, it represents a $53.7 billion industry in New York and accounts for more than 200,000 jobs.
“Having access to capital to either start or grow a farm is one of the greatest challenges facing new farmers today,” New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton said in the state’s announcement.
The fund is administered by Empire State Development, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Yet there is no staff in the Dept. of Agriculture staff in the tri-state office. Instead more political appointees who know nothing about food, farming or agriculture.